HudsonYards Launches Advanced Ad Portal Service for Publishers

NEW YORK—April 28, 2008 — HudsonYards, a leading provider of pre-media services for graphic arts production, has launched a new, advanced web-based ad portal service that significantly speeds the start-to-finish ad submission process with improved automation of delivery, pre-flighting and acceptance of ad materials to publishers.

Hearst Magazines is the first publisher to use HudsonYards’ portal technology. Branding its HudsonYards portal as the “Hearst Magazine Ad Gateway”, the publisher has now enabled advertisers and agencies to submit ads through the new portal, accessed through http://ads.hearst.com, for all of its 17 monthly publications.

“Our portal service is a HudsonYards-developed technology that is a major extension of our highly successful Publishers Management Tools (PMT) which has been fully operational for three years now,” says Diane Romano, president and chief operating officer of HudsonYards. “Our new portal service enables publishers to further automate their ad submission procedures, and establish a faster, smoother workflow with strong management control at every stage of the entire ad placement process.”

“We are very pleased with the rapid adoption of the Hearst Ad Gateway by the advertising community,” says Laura Reid, Vice President of Production at Hearst Magazines. “Our advertisers are finding the Gateway very easy to use and our own production staff is very pleased with the process improvements the portal has created. The PMT System gives us lots of control and oversight of the entire ad trafficking process and makes for a very streamlined, easy-to-manage workflow.”

Michele Unger, SVP, Director of Content Operations at Grey New York notes, “The Hearst Magazine Ad Gateway is a great new delivery tool for us. It provides an agency-friendly, end-to-end process that not only is extremely fast, but also ensures the full accuracy of the ad materials we submit for all their publications.”

Neil O’Callaghan, executive vice president of technology and operations of HudsonYards, observes, “Our portals are fully web-based, don’t require plug-ins or program downloads, are extremely simple to use, and provide our PMT Advantage as a valuable back-end option. Perhaps most important,” he adds, “they were developed and are backed by HudsonYards’ unique perspective and proven expertise based on our long working relationships with industry leaders like Hearst, and other major publishers, advertisers and agencies.”

Portal Power

The HudsonYards portal is remarkably easy to use and opens access to the company’s powerfully productive PMT Advantage system. To start the submission process, an advertiser logs in through the portal, specifies which publications and issues the ad is to run in, enters metadata, (specs, client and brand names, etc.), then uploads the ad file.

The ad next undergoes an automated pre-flight analysis, utilizing DALiM’s TWiST platform to check the file for errors or missing elements. Pre-flight reports are sent immediately to the advertiser for follow-up action, if necessary. When the file clears the pre-flight analysis, it is populated in the PMT database and available for review and approval by Hearst staff, and can be directed to the appropriate printing plant as instructed.

With access through the portal, the HudsonYards PMT system enables advertisers and publishers to easily manage ad traffic 24/7, confirming all aspects of the process, such as ad files received, approval status and positioning data.

Portal Modularity

HudsonYards is making its portal service available to publishers in three modular configurations:

• Portal service (with automatic pre-flighting)

• Portal service with the PMT Advantage back end

• Portal with full ad management service provided by HudsonYards

Any of the HudsonYards portal modules can be branded by publishers. Customers may also opt to use HudsonYards’ PMT Advantage without a portal service.

More information about HudsonYards’ portal service is available from John Regina, who can be reached at 212-716-6644.

About HudsonYards
Headquartered in Manhattan, HudsonYards has major operations in New York, Nashville and San Francisco. The company’s facilities are equipped with the industry’s most advanced digital imaging systems to provide creative re-touching, digital imaging, content management and workflow management solutions for advertising agencies and publishers, as well as entertainment and luxury goods clients. HudsonYards has an extensive client base that includes names such as Grey Worldwide, JWT, Ogilvy, Martha Stewart Living, Hearst Magazines, Meredith Publishing, Newsweek and Showtime Network. HudsonYards is a company of The CAPS Group, one of the largest independent graphic arts services providers in the United States. For more information, visit the HudsonYards website at www.hudson-yards.com